The Third Sarah Palin Bounce Is Coming

John McCain has already gotten two huge boosts from his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. (Incidentally, although it's become conventional wisdom that Palin was picked to appeal to disgruntled Hillary supporters, that's just a bonus. I think she was picked to appeal to disgruntled Reagan supporters.) The first was the electric burst of energy that ran through his otherwise largely disspirited party with the announcement. The second was her dramatic exceeding of (media-created) low expectations for her acceptance speech--viewed by nearly 50% more people than Biden's. The polls are now starting to show McCain gaining ground. But the next Palin bounce is already set to start.

Congress returns to work following a five week vacation (well-deserved...could they please take a couple of years off now?) this week. The single biggest item on the legislative agenda, the one that's going to be the center of fireworks is the expiration of the Congressional ban on offshore oil drilling. President Bush has already rescinded the executive order, which means that unless Congress passes a new law, offshore drilling will become legal on October 1. This puts the Democrats in a huge box. Drilling for more oil is favored by nearly 2/3 of the population. The members of Congress know this. So do the leaders. That's why Squeaker of the House Pelosi (D-I Am Woman Hear Me Squeak) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed (D-Corruption) have tried to so hard to prevent a vote to start drilling before the ban expires. They will lose. Overwhelmingly.

But now they face this dilemma. They must pass a new ban or drilling will be allowed to resume. And drilling is anathema to their hard-core environmentalist supporters. The oil drilling ban is going to be huge for the next three weeks. And McCain has picked one of the most knowledgeable elected officials in America on the subject of energy/oil/drilling as his VP. She's going to have a chance to shine on this topic. And I think they're going to use it to showcase her as far better qualified than The One to be President. When they do the third Sarah Palin bounce is going to hit, positioning McCain perfectly for the debates that start the end of this month.